INDEPENDENCE DAY is all the fireworks of the 4th of July in one movie,
as well as all of the patriotism, and all of the corn. Especially all
of the corn. The movie, about the invasion of Earth by very well-armed
aliens, borrows heavily from movies of the past, particularly WAR OF
THE WORLDS and EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, while adopting the
disaster-movie format. And why not? Those too were huge, cornball
epics, stuffed to the gills with special effects; there wasn't a deep
thought in any of them, but audiences had a grand time with the best.

In true disaster-film format, director Roland Emmerich -- showing vast
improvement over STARGATE -- and his co-writer Dean Devlin introduce
the cast of characters before getting down to what the audience came to
see: aliens blowing the hell out of Earth. First, the government,
embodied mostly by President Whitmore (Bill Pullman), learns that an
enormous spacecraft has stopped near Earth. And has sent out a "almost
three dozen" smaller -- each a mere 15 miles across -- ships that
descend toward Earth, eventually taking up positions above the world's
major cities.

David (Jeff Goldblum), whose ex-wife Constance (Margaret Colin) is the
President's press secretary, very improbably is the only person on
Earth who figures out that the alien ships are engaged in some kind of
countdown. He thinks it's a countdown to disaster, and convinces his
cantankerous father Julius (Judd Hirsch) to drive him to Washington DC,
since Constance won't talk to him on the phone.

These people confront the aliens, who spectacularly blow up New York
city, Los Angeles and the White House. They presumably destroy many
other cities as well, but the surprisingly limited budget didn't extent
to blasting London, Moscow, Sydney, etc. Eventually, David is again the
only person on Earth who figures out a way to stop the aliens.

INDEPENDENCE DAY is like a St. Bernard: huge, clumsy, inclined to
drool, a little stupid, and lovable. I'm sure that Devlin and Emmerich
are well aware of some of the stupidities -- the dust on the Moon in
the opening shot clearly being swirled by air, sound in space, the
compatibility of alien and Earthly computer systems. Others, I'm not so
sure about, as when an Earth-made computer links smoothly with an alien
computer system. Down here we can't even get PCs to talk to Macs.

The special effects, which are plentiful, were under the direction of
Volher Engel, an old buddy of Emmerich's from their native Germany, and
Douglas Smith, who's been doing this sort of thing on this side of the
Atlantic ever since STAR WARS. They are the stars of one of the special
edition's commentary tracks (both tracks were recorded for the special
edition laserdisc), which is moderately interesting, but not
engrossing. If you're not very curious about the special effects, you
can skip it.

The production design chores were split between Oliver Scholl, yet
another old buddy of Emmerich (and a former illustrator for science
fiction magazines), and Patrick Tatopoulos. The second disc includes
some production drawings from both of them. Tatopoulos is one of the
most over-praised designers working today; his work is highly
derivative and rarely based on any thing like scientific principles. He
was responsible for the aliens, which are designed to be ugly and scary
and creepy and icky and revolting and slimy and nasty, rather than
logical. I mean, fellows, claws and tentacles and slime?

David Arnold's score is as big and boisterous -- and cornball -- as
INDEPENDENCE DAY itself, but was I hearing a little of "Deutschland
Uber Alles" when our heroes triumph? Harl Walter Lindenlaub, yet
another German associate of Roland Emmerich, does a great job with the
photography here; he's helped by much of the movie being shot on wide
California plains, so he gets to frame a big, funny shot of the charge
of the Winnebagos.

Emmerich and Devlin are not exactly masters of dialog. And they can't
avoid that clunky, dopey scene where the quarreling hero and heroine
reconcile while outside the room aliens are peeling our planet like an
orange. Lines in INDEPENDENCE DAY are utilitarian, prosaic,
unimaginative; when Pullman gives his big speech at the climax about
the world facing its own independence day, there's hardly a quotable
thought in it, much less a line.

INDEPENDENCE DAY keeps teetering on the edge of being silly, but never
quite topples, because Emmerich and Devlin so clearly love what they're
doing, and don't take it any more seriously than the movie really
warrants. There was a great deal of backlash against the movie in the
months after it erupted as the mammoth hit it was designed to be, but
it's still the best thing Emmerich and Devlin have done.

There's not much point in relating the plot; you've probably already
seen the movie. If you liked it, you'll want to get this
special-edition DVD, featuring two discs both crammed with extra
material. The first disc includes both the theatrical version of the
movie, and a "special edition" that's nine minutes longer -- but
without the narration track by Devlin and Emmerich, you probably
wouldn't notice the additional scenes. Their chat is friendly enough,
but very repititous, and they're inclined to drift into silence while
watching their own movie. There's not nearly enough commentary about
scene choices or other directorial decisions.

The second disc includes two standard promotional "documentaries," as
well as an amusing collection of all the TV "news reports" glimpsed in
the movie on the TV sets often seen in the background. There are
production designs, stills, and many of the other standard extras. If
you like the movie, this is the format in which to buy it.

more details

special features:

includes
both original theatrical cut and the "Special Edition," nine minutes
longer; lots of extras -- two commentary tracks, storyboards, two
making-of documentaries and other material.